which internet speed to get?

Z

zeppelin04

Member
I should be moving in the next couple weeks and need to select an internet plan. The building I am going into offers att uverse's fiber optic service or time warner cable.

I am not sure which speed to go with. My use is typically for downloads such as steam and Netflix. Could 12mb service from att allow me to stream in HD while performing downloads or would I have to speed my service up a little more?

Also does anyone have any thoughts on these two providers? I have used both and no internet provider has left me seriously impressed.
 
I only wish I had your problem. I have no real selection for speed, fastest I can get where I live is 1.5M!

IMO, you can never have too much internet bandwidth. I would go with the fastest you can afford.
 
God 12MB would be great to me, average in my area is 2.5 - 3 MB

Never ceases to annoy me this internet speed crap in the west, supposed to be the big main countries in the world leading the way, yet some of the slowest broadband speeds in the world.

It`s not like it can`t be done they are just to greedy to spend the money setting up the proper infrastructure.

The west and in particular Europe gets treated like crap by companies from all industries, we pay the highest prices and get the lowest service.

Have a look at this article of the top ten fastest broadband countries in the world, no Britain, no Germany, no U.S.A

http://www.smartplanet.com/blog/bulletin/top-10-countries-with-the-fastest-internet/24801
 
12Mb is fine, but remember all posters of this thread its megaBITS, not bytes. That means 12Mb is just 1.5MB. Still, plenty for Netflix. I have a 15Mb plan myself, works good for netflix. Buffers in less then 10 seconds.
 
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PCunicorn said:
12MB is fine, but remember all posters of this thread its megaBITS, not bytes. That means 12Mb is just 1.5MB. Still, plenty for Netflix. I have a 15Mb plan myself, works good for netflix. Buffers in less then 10 seconds.
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Did not know that. This would explain why my steam downloads cap at 1.5mbps.
 
Virtually all ISP's (at least the ones I have encountered) state their download speeds in Mbps instead of MBps. My download speed is stated as 1.5Mbps so when I download something I usually see 140-150KBps. I have no problem watching Netflix videos (with little to no buffering) on my service as long as no one else in the house is trying to download a large file at the same time.

I reiterate that you can never have too much bandwidth, go with the fastest connection you can afford and be thankful for it. I live in a rural area and my ludicrously slow connection costs $91/month. I work from home so my employer pays that. If my employer wasn't paying for it, I really couldn't justify $91/month for an internet connection.
 
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strollin said:
Virtually all ISP's (at least the ones I have encountered) state their download speeds in Mbps instead of MBps. My download speed is stated as 1.5Mbps so when I download something I usually see 140-150KBps. I have no problem watching Netflix videos (with little to no buffering) on my service as long as no one else in the house is trying to download a large file at the same time.

I reiterate that you can never have too much bandwidth, go with the fastest connection you can afford and be thankful for it. I live in a rural area and my ludicrously slow connection costs $91/month. I work from home so my employer pays that. If my employer wasn't paying for it, I really couldn't justify $91/month for an internet connection.
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I am not sure I could get by on those types of speeds. It has been done before but I have just gotten too used to faster internet.

That price is crazy. I just got the 12Mbps along with digital cable for less money. Netflix has been all I use but I figure I will try out cable again for a year while I have promotional pricing.
 
I used to have 3mbps down on ATT DSL and Netflix would work, but you couldn't download something at the same time without trouble or really have anyone else doing anything on the internet save loading webpages every once in a while. I have 6mbps from ATT Uverse now and it's much better. Streaming 1080p HD works on youtube and Netflix is flawless. My download speed averages about 700kbps on Steam so you can probably expect about 1.4mbps for downloads if you go with the 12mbps plan.

Downloading and streaming at even 6mbps is fine so 12 is plenty. I've been pleased with my Uverse so far but I'm only actually using the service as my parents are paying it since I still live at home. :D The router is better than our old DSL one too.
 
Can you post the prices? If the price difference between cable and fiber is not much I'd definitely go with the fiber service.
 
I was looking at two buildings. One had fiber optic and the other did not. When calling in I was quoted the same prices.

Figured for the same price I would go with fiber optic along with a cable package. Why pay the same price for slower internet when faster speeds are available.
 
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